The Two Confessions John Whitbourn (best books for students to read txt) 📖

in a constricted circle for the artificial dawn.. It dulycame - and, like the real one, revealed a landscape of mixed blessings.

Theywere alone and unthreatened; the way ahead was fairly clear: a tunnel at theroom's far end, like the one they'd just quit. Meanwhile, the making ofmoderate prosperity was all around, there for the taking. On the other hand,there were... discouragements. It was not a happy place.

Quiteapart from the heads and body-parts thrust onto spikes, rearing up at eye-levelfrom the floor, even a poor light showed the garish colour scheme that wassurely no monastic choice. Brown and pink washes raged for supremacy on wallsand floors and ceiling, in coats of varying thickness and age. The overalleffect was claustrophobic, like being inside a joint of beef.

Samuelqueried it with a look to the Wizard. He shrugged back his lack ofcomprehension.

‘That’sa mystery too,’ the magician added, pointing at the nearest wall.

Samuellooked - and then peered harder. Could sorcerers enhance their sight as well asall the other unfair advantages? He tried again and then grasped the elusiveimages. A shape or symbol: innumerable upturned and impaled m's, ormaybe a speared seagull, was daubed in mad, overlapping, lack of order on everyflat surface. Soot or charcoal had been employed for some, but most weresuspicious-red or faecal brown.

‘Ithink,’ said Wulfstan, transcending the decor to give a dispassionate opinion,‘that this was the vestibule; the way in.’

Hisassistant, a pale and intense youth, consulted his drawing.

‘We'vemet the primary avenue,’ he agreed. ‘It should lead back to the main gateblocked in 1702.’

‘Onlynow there's a new way out,’ butted in one of the corner men. He was an oldLondon acquaintance of Trevan's and thus felt up to joining their counsels.

Samuelwent to look. The man was right but not thanked for it. What looked like agiant animal burrow clawed its way upwards at the junction of two walls. Thoughhardly fresh-made it was a lot younger than anything else here. Trevan knelt toinvestigate and thought he caught the ghost, far away above, of blessed freshair. There wasn't space for a man to stand upright within but a crouched ascentmight be just about possible. So, someone or something here cared to interactwith the wider world. If you considered carefully there was comfort in that.Things that need routes for feet also had tongues to make talk and bodies toskewer.

‘Doorshere, sir.’

Thelow call came from the other side of the hall. Samuel crossed from one shadowzone to the other, threading his way through the stake display. Four decayedbut still standing doors were pointed out to him. This was something elsethey'd anticipated and rehearsed.

‘Threes,’he ordered. ‘In and hold.’

Ateam of three addressed the first door. At Trevan's signal, one soldier bootedit aside (and asunder) and stood back. Another piled in with torch and pistol;the third stood by, aiming, ready to supply back-up or revenge.

‘Clear!’The process and call was repeated four times without incident. Samuel then wenton a tour of inspection. They were all small side-rooms, functional adjuncts(once) to the entry hall. Taking a torch himself, he made swift inventory:

One:spare stakes, some flint knives (adeptly knapped); two stone bowls, a new-cutrowan branch. Dust and dirt.

Two:a part consumed man, long set aside and mummified by age. A clerical collarhung around his thin chewed neck.

Three:an armoury - of sorts. Two old muskets, not matched; a brace of pistolslikewise; four spears, flint or glass topped; more flint knives and two humanhands.

Four:nothing - but in the corner was another burrow, leading far away into dark. Afaint, warm, animal odour trickled down it. Trevan sensed life but notintelligence. He disdained to explore. They were after bigger game.

‘Notfor us,’ he told the Wizard on re-emerging. ‘Others can apply cleansing fireand sword. Form column! Far tunnel!’

Theyassembled commendably quickly and advanced. The passage was broad and fairgoing and they no longer walked on human money. Wulfstan's whisper numberedtheir steps for his assistant to note. At fifty they were stopped again.

Oncemore, at outer torch limit, their encounter had the semblance of life, butcloser to they were reassured - if not much. The effigy was crude, evenallowing that they weren't sure what was depicted. Stone and gravel, dirt andbone, were compacted in some unknown matrix to make a shape. It had two armsand two legs, plus two breasts and a head: so it could be said to be man-like.But even assuming a spectacularly bad sculptor, Samuel did not think a humanlikeness was intended.

TheWizard came front-wards and examined it like a connoisseur pondering anacquisition.

‘I’dsay a demi-demon,’ he said, in his own good time, ‘of obscure breed. Disvaperhaps? A padfoot? But no, note the pendulous udders and huge lashedeyes. I confess myself uncertain, Mr Trevan. There is infinite variety of thesescum from nature's bath-tub.’

SoSamuel had heard, though the Lord's favoured creation had exterminated many anddriven the rest into the margins of the world. His interest lay more inlearning this sort’s mettle than a precise taxonomic placing.

‘Butnote the repetition of the vestibule motif,’ said the magician, eager, foronce, to supply helpful information. He pointed to the large 'impaled m'painted with incongruous care on the thing's bulging loins.

‘Andyou note these,’ Trevan replied, indicating the vestigially moist intestinescoiled bandoleer-style round its shoulders. Tokens of contemporary life weremounting up.

‘Ihad,’ said the Wizard, without inflection.

Therewere doors to left and right but Samuel ignored them. He'd got the tone of theplace now and didn't need to bother with side issues. The column parted aroundthe tribute to something-or-other and moved on.

Anotherfifty paces forward and they saw light ahead to greet them. It was no torchflare and certainly not the sun's rays, but rather more of a dismal glow.Samuel wondered at the ancient instincts within that made any light at allwelcome.

Thecorridor ended and they entered a colossal space, vastly beyond their powers ofillumination. The light source was somewhere out in the middle of that expanseand they felt dwarfed and vulnerable in the sudden immensity. Wulfstan'sassistant's dull-dog focus saved them by supplying location.

‘Thismust be the cloisters,’ he said, apparently uninhibited by the broodingsilence. ‘I reckon they've followed standard layout. There'll be a walkwayround and all sorts of rooms off it. If I'm